The Other Side
by Twilight Princess6
Summary: In the year 2014 the characters from Persona 3 and 4 are happily living their normal lives when they realize some odd events are occuring. All the old Persona users along with a few new members will have to team up to prevent tragedy from occuring.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note [5-14-12]: **Just to let everyone know, I now have a new account. I've had it for a little while, but I've recently become more active on it. Anyways, after the really long [and not exactly planned hiatus] I do have some ideas for this story. I'm going to try and continue it this summer, as I have been writing more anyways. When and if I do continue this story [which I have very high hopes of doing] I will be putting it on my new account. If you would like to know what my new account is feel free to send me an email at . [Sorry to be a pain and make you email me and what not, I had some problems in the past, and would like a fresh start while avoiding a few users if possible]. Thanks for sticking with me everyone! I hope to hear from you =]

* * *

Thanks for coming to read my story! Before you get started I want to warn you that **there will be spoilers for both Persona 3 FES and Persona 4.** It probably won't be anything huge, but there will be some things here that are more fun if you find them for yourself while playing the game.

I'm not completly sure if I'm going to stick with this title, but I'll warn everyone before I change it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy my story don't forget to review!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the Persona games and I won't for the whole rest of this story(or probably ever) so this is the only time I'm saying this!

* * *

"Teddie, go create a distraction or something," Yosuke said.

"What? Why me?" Teddie complained.

"How else are we supposed to get this into the TV?" Yosuke asked, pointing at the box with the dissembled picnic table in it.

"What do I do?" Teddie whined.

"I don't know, just do something," Yosuke said in an exasperated voice. "There's only those three women in the department right now, hurry up before more people come!"

Teddie scratched his chin and thought for a moment. "Fine," he said and headed over to where the group of women were standing. "Who wants a free kiss?" he said loudly. "I'll make it nice and juicy!" The three women gave him a strange look and quickly walked away. Teddie glumly walked back to the group. "They ran away," he said sulkily.

"What did you expect them to do?" Chie asked.

"I was hoping I could distract them with a good smooch while you guys threw that into the TV."

Yukiko burst into gales of laughter. Teddie sighed and looked at the floor.

"Come on, let's hurry up and get this over with before more people come," Naoto said.

Kanji and Souji picked up the box and tossed it through the TV screen, and jumped in after it. The rest of the group followed them.

* * *

The eight of them landed in the grassy plain the TV world had become.

Rise looked around, enjoying the scenery, and the pleasant spring-like weather. "It's so relaxing to come here now," she said. "It's hard to believe that it's already been two years since those murders took place."

"Yeah," Souji said. "It's even harder to believe that this place was filled with shadows and used for murders."

"I'm glad that things are back to normal, even though I do miss the investigation team." Yukiko said.

"Quit being depressing you guys!" Chie butted in. "It's Souji's first day back here since winter break, and tomorrow we all start school again! We need to have one day where we can just have fun!"

"Yes, you're right," Yukiko said.

"Would you guys quit spacing out over there and help me put this damn picnic table together!" Kanji yelled at them.

"Did you try reading the instructions?" Naoto asked looking at the messy pile of pieces Kanji had thrown on the ground.

"No, I didn't see any in there."

"There has to be instructions somewhere in the box," Yosuke said. "You just didn't look hard enough." He looked through the pile on the ground and inside of the box and found nothing. "Oh man, are you serious?" He whined.

"Come on you guys, it's just a picnic table it can't be that difficult to put together!" Rise optimistically said. "It's basically like a big puzzle right? Just put these pieces together like this!" She attempted to put two pieces together and when they obviously wouldn't fit she tried to force them to anyways.

Yosuke grabbed them out of Rise's hand before she broke them. "Those don't even look like they go together!" He yelled. "Me, Kanji and Souji will work on this the rest of you just go over there," he said, waving them away.

"At least I tried," Rise mumbled as she sat down in the grass with the rest of the group.

After about a half an hour of frustrating work, and a large amount of swearing, Yosuke, Souji and Kanji finished putting together the picnic table.

"Uh, it's done," Kanji said uncertainly.

The girls and Teddie gave him a strange look as they sat down. Yosuke, Souji, and Kanji waited until everyone else sat down, before they joined them, giving the picnic table a wary look as they did.

"Here's the food!" Yukiko said.

"Uh, you didn't cook that did you?" Chie said eying the sushi.

"No I bought it from Junes."  
"Whew," Chie said. Yukiko glared at her.

"I mean uh, um too bad." Chie said and laughed nervously.

Yukiko opened her mouth to reply, when there was a loud snapping noise. The eight of them look at each other.

"What was…" but before Teddie could finish his sentence, the picnic table collapsed and the eight of them were sitting on the ground.

Yosuke, Souji, and Kanji look around guiltily.

"What the hell! You guys can't even put together a picnic table?" Chie yelled.

"There weren't any instructions!" Yosuke complained.

"Seriously, it's just a picnic table! It can't be that hard."

"Well maybe if you wouldn't have bought the cheap one it wouldn't have fallen apart!"

"I bought the cheap one because I didn't' want to use too much of your money!"

"You should have…" Yosuke trailed off. "Wait did you say _my_ money?"

"Oh, um… oh crap." Chie trailed off once she realized what she had said.

"Did you use my card again?"

"Yeah, I forgot to mention that didn't I," Chie said laughing nervously.

"Why did you…" Yosuke began, but he was cut off by Kanji.

"Would you two shut up! I think I heard something over there."

Chie and Yosuke stopped arguing and followed Kanji's gaze. The rest of the group did as well. At the edge of the field there were a few shrubs clumped together, that was the area Kanji had heard the noise coming from. As they all waited, they heard the noise again and the bushes moved.

"Something's coming out!" Teddie yelled. As soon as the words left his mouth, a group of shadows appeared out of the bushes.

"What the hell," Yosuke muttered.

"They're headed this way! Everyone, get your Personas ready!" Souji ordered. "Rise, get behind us and give us some support!"

Rise stepped behind the group and summoned her Persona, Kanzeon. "These enemies aren't too strong, but be careful!"

The three enimies attacked first. The first one used a strike attack and landed a critical hit on Chie.

"Hang in there Chie!" Rise yelled. "If one of you can find their weakness, you should be able to defeat them before they attack again!"

The next two shadows used bufu. Luckily neither of the attaks were aimed at Yukiko who's weakness was ice.

After the shadows finished thier assault, Souji and Yosuke attacked followed by Yukiko. Yukiko used maragi and discovered that the enemies were weak to fire. "Come on, let's get 'em!" she yelled.

The group jumped to attack the now knocked down enemies and defeated them.

Yosuke walked over to help Chie up, thier argument now forgotten.

"Where the hell did those come from?" Souji asked.

"I don't know," Teddie said. "There shouldn't be any shadows here now."

The eight of them looked around the field, which now seemed eerily quite after the noise from the battle.

"I don't understand," Naoto said. "We've been coming here for the past two years and there haven't been any signs of shadows at all. They all disappeared after we beat Izanami."

Yukiko shook her head, "It doesn't make any sense."  
"Maybe we should go back to Junes," Rise said looking around warily. "Who

knows if there are more of them lurking around here."

"Yeah, I guess so," Teddie said.

They walked over to the stack of TV's that was their way back.

* * *

As soon as they were back at Junes they headed for the food court. They all bought something to eat, since the sushi had been left behind during all the confusion, and sat down at their usual table.

"What could cause them to just suddenly reappear like that?" Souji said as they sat down.

"Who knows," Yosuke sighed. "We haven't seen them for about two years now, I thought they were gone."

"Maybe they were always there and we were just lucky enough not to run into them or something," Rise said.

"We'e been going back there a few times a month now for two years, if there were any shadows there before we would have almost certainly encountered them," Naoto said. "These must have recently reappeared; I just don't know what could have caused them to come back."

"We don't need to start watching for the midnight channel again, do we?" Chie asked.

Naoto sighed, "Hopefully we're just overreacting, but it can't hurt to be cautious, I think we should all see if the midnight channel comes on again tonight."

They all nodded. "Too bad school starts tomorrow; we aren't going to have time to keep an eye on what's going on inside the TV." Souji said.

"I think we should all go together, I don't know if the rest of you noticed this, but I felt like I was out of practice or something when I summoned my Persona." Yukiko said.

"Yeah, I felt the same way," Rise said.

"Me too," Kanji added.

The rest of the group nodded.

"Can we all meet up here next Sunday?" Yosuke asked.

"That's fine with me," Souji said. "Is everyone else alright with that?"

The rest of the group agreed to meet up on Sunday.

"It looks like we're an investigation team once again," Naoto sighed.

"Hopefully this will just be a false alarm," Yukiko said. "We should go home for now, it's getting late and we all have to wake up early tomorrow."

They all got up and said their goodbyes. "Don't forget to watch for the Midnight Channel," Naoto added before they split up.

Souji solemnly walked home. _Why do bad things always seem to happen as soon as I show up?_ He thought sourly.

* * *

Okay, that's all I have for now. Now go review!

Return to Top


	2. Chapter 2

_Okay, here's chapter 2, and that's really all I have to say for now. Now read! ...and then review!_

* * *

Aigis walked along the sidewalk enjoying the fresh April air and the clear night sky on her way to Hagakure. She was running a bit late because Koromaru had given her a pleading look before she left wanting to go for a walk. She never could refuse that look so she had quickly taken him to the shrine to play. She was now about fifteen minutes late and everyone else would probably already be there, but Hagakure was now only a block away.

Aigis looked up at the night sky as she walked and she began thinking of the past. Today was April 7th 2014. Five years ago today, he had come here, and a few months later, Aigis had met him. They and eight others had fought shadows together, solved the mysteries of apathy syndrome, and defeated Nyx. He had meant so much to Aigis, and she had promised to protect him no matter what, only to have him taken away from her less than a year after they met. _I promised I would do everything in my power to protect you Minato, but now you're up there somewhere protecting me, _Aigis thought.

Aigis had never really gotten over the pain of Minato's death, but she had come to accept that along with the choice he had made.

She was now almost in front of Hagakure, and she saw all of her friends inside. Before opening the door she looked up at the night sky again. _I'm sorry, _she thought, _I promised you I wouldn't be sad anymore. _She put her hand on the door handle and still looking towards the sky, she whispered, "I'll always miss you, but I'll accept the gift you gave me and live the best life I can."

Aigis pulled the door open and walked in to greet her friends.

"Hi Aigis!" Yukari said cheerfully.

"Hello Yukari, hello everyone," Aigis said. "I'm sorry for being late."

Don't worry about it," Fuuka said.

"Yeah at least you're nice enough to call unlike some people," Junpei grumbled.

Seeing Aigis' puzzled look, Ken explained," He's just grumpy because he can't eat until everyone is here and Akihiko still hasn't arrived."  
"But I'm starving!" Junpei whined. "I think we should make Akihiko pay for dinner since he's so friggin' late."

Mitsuru rolled her eyes, "he's probably just late because of work."

"Well while Mr. Fancy Police Officer does whatever it is he's doing, I'm going to die of starvation here," Junpei complained.

"He's working late to protect the public," Mitsuru replied.

"What am I not part of the public now?" Junpei asked. "If he doesn't get here soon, I'm going to starve to death! I don't call that protecting the public."

Mitsuru and Junpei continued to go back and forth like this for a few more minutes when Akihiko walked in.

Everyone greeted him except for Junpei who yelled "You're paying for dinner!"

"Hey everyone," Akihiko said ignoring Junpei's comment. "Sorry, I tried to get here as fast as I could, I didn't even stop at home to change," he said indicating his uniform. "We had a really weird case just before my shift ended."

"What happ…" Fuuka began, but Junpei cut her off.

"Tell us after we order," he said. "I'm going to die if I don't eat soon."

"Fine with me," Akihiko said as he sat down.

They all ordered (Junpei ordered an extra bowl) and Akihiko began his story.

"We got a call right at the end of my shift, about a lot yelling coming from a house," Akihiko began. "Me, and another cop headed over to see what was going on and when we arrived we found that the guy was beating his wife. The guy opened the door, and once he saw us with our uniforms on, he took off and ran towards the kitchen. We chased after him, but by the time we caught up, he had grabbed a knife. We pulled out our guns and told him he needed to put down the knife and come with us. Then the crazy thing happened. The guy started to yell, and swear, and wave the knife around, but then out of nowhere, he just kind of fainted."

"What do you mean kind of?" Mitsuru asked.

"Well, it seemed like he had fainted since he fell to the ground and was just lying there, except for the fact that his eyes were wide open."

"His eyes were open?" Ken asked.

Akihiko nodded, "Wide open, like he was staring at something."

"That's freaky man," Junpei said.

The waiter walked over to the table and set their bowls of ramen in front of them. They began to eat as Akihiko finished his story.

"We called the ambulance, and they took him and his wife to the hospital. We still aren't quite sure what happened."  
Aigis stirred her bowl of noodles to get them to cool down. "It's so strange; I wonder what could have caused him to pass out like that."

Akihiko shook his head." I've been wondering the same thing myself."  
"Do you know if something like this has happened to him before?" Fuuka asked.

"We asked his wife while we were waiting for the ambulance to show up, and she said she's never even seen him pass out before."

"That just makes it even weirder," Junpei said.

The group ate in silence for a few minutes, pondering what Akihiko had told them when Mitsuru glanced up at the TV in the restaurant. "Hey isn't that the story you were just telling us about Akihiko?" She asked pointing at the TV screen.

The news was on and there was a report about the man who had passed out.

"Yeah, it is," he said. Akihiko got up and turned up the volume on the television a little it so they could hear the story better.

There was a female reporter on the screen, standing in front of Tatsumi Memorial hospital. The story was already in progress.

"According to the police, a man in his mid-thirties passed out suddenly during a fit of rage. The odd part is his eyes were wide open even though it seemed he had fainted. Doctors say that he is still passed out, but is in stable condition. They were unable to identify what caused the man to pass out this way, but they are treating him to the best of their abilities.

"What makes this incident even more startling is the fact that there have been five other cases similar to this one during this week. The first case took place on Monday, with the others occurring on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The Other patients all fainted with their eyes wide open, and although doctors say they are in stable condition, none of them have woken up. According to doctors, they have not been able to find the cause but they are beginning to think this may be a more severe case of Apathy Syndrome."

At the words Apathy Syndrome the group froze. They all looked at each other in silence still not quite able to believe what they had just heard.

Yukari broke the silence by standing up and saying, "I'm not hungry anymore."

"Me either," Mitsuru said and joined her. The rest of the group stood up along with them and paid before leaving Hagakure.

Junpei sadly glanced back at his half finished meal before walking out of the restaurant with the rest of the group towards the dorm.

"I can't… " Yukari began, but she had to stop and calm herself before she spoke. "I don't want to have to go through this again."

"None of us do Yukari," Mitsuru said.

"Hey wait," Junpei cut in. "Before we start worrying about this we need to figure out if anything is actually happening. Has anyone noticed The Dark Hour come back?" He asked.

They all shook their heads.

"See we maybe freaking out about nothing."

"But five people have passed out in one week alone," Ken said. "That doesn't seem like a coincidence to me."

Fuuka nodded, "We can't be too careful, I think we should watch the news and keep and eye out for The Dark Hour."  
Akihiko had troubled look on his face and he was staring at the ground as they walked. He seemed to be thinking about something."

"Is something wrong Akihiko?" Mitsuru asked.

Akihiko looked up and shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I'm just tired."

"If you say so."

They had arrived in front of the dorm where Yukari, Junpei, Aigis, Ken and Fuuka were now staying. They had decided it would be easier to use the dorm since it was close to where they all went to school. Plus they wouldn't have to worry about paying rent like they would if they had stayed somewhere else.

"Hey, lets' try not to worry about this too much okay?" Junpei said. "We'll keep an eye on the news and report if anything happens with The Dark Hour. Tomorrow's the first day back to school for most of us; we have enough on our minds."

"Yes, of course," Mitsuru said. "I assume you did all of your homework Iori?"

"'Course I did! I don't slack off anymore remember! Er… well most of the time I don't." This was actually true. Junpei had surprised them all by deciding to go to college, and getting passing grades in all his classes.

Mitsuru laughed "That's good to hear," She said. "Well, I had better get going, it's pretty late. Goodnight everyone."

They all said good night as Mitsuru walked over to her car. Everyone else headed into the dorm except for Akihiko who turned to walk towards his apartment which was only about ½ a mile away from the dorm.

Junpei was holding the door open for Aigis who was the last to walk into the dorm. She stopped in the doorway and looked back at Akihiko as he walked away. He still seemed trouble.

"You comin' in or what Ai-chan?" Junpei asked.

"No, I'll be back in just a minute," she said, and turned around to run after Akihiko.

Junpei shrugged and close the door.

"Sanada-san, wait!" she yelled.

Akihiko turned around to see Aigis chasing after him.

"What's wrong Aigis" he asked.

"You seem troubled, what's bothering you?"

He shook his head, "It's nothing."

"No, you're worrying about something, I can tell. Ever since Apathy Syndrome was mentioned you've hardly said a word."

He sighed before answering, "All right," he said, "I didn't want anyone else to worry, but I'll tell you."

Aigis nodded and waited for him to reply.

"Well, when that man passed out, and he was just staring like that, it reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite place it. Once I heard the reporter say Apathy Syndrome, I knew that was it. He had that same blank stare on his face. That's what was bothering me. "

"I see," Aigis said. "It seems that something may really be happening."

"I hope not," he sighed. "I would appreciate it if you kept this from the others Aigis, they don't need to have anymore stress put on them."

"Alright," Aigis agreed. "Thanks for telling me about it."

Akihiko just shrugged, "I felt like I should tell someone. Well, I need to head home, it's pretty late."

"Okay, then. Goodnight."

"'Night," Akihiko said and began walking again.

Aigis turned in the opposite direction and began walking back towards the dorm.

When she walked back into the dorm Yukari was getting ready to walk outside with Koromaru.

"Hey Aigis, Koromaru wanted to go on a walk, you wanna come with?" Yukari asked.

"He's already been for a walk today," Aigis said.

Koromaru let out a pathetic whine and his ears drooped.

Aigis rolled her eyes, "Fine I'll go with if you still want to go Yukari."

"Yeah, I could use a walk anyways."

Koromaru bark happily and ran outside the still open door.

I was almost chilly, but still pleasant out when they arrived at the shrine. Yukari and Aigis sat down on the wooden ledge near the playground while Koromaru happily ran around the shrine, sniffing at all the spots that caught his interest.

Yukari sighed, "Maybe I'm just overreacting, but I would really rather not go through something like apathy syndrome again."

"None of us do Yukari. I would rather just live a normal, peaceful life than have to battle again." Aigis said. "You know, if something big does happen again, and you don't want to…" Yukari cut her off.

"No, I just said I didn't want to fight again, not that I wouldn't. He gave his life to save this world, there's no way I would pass up the chance to protect it."

Aigis nodded and smiled. "I'm glad to hear that, the team wouldn't be the same without you."

"You would fight again too I fit came to that, right Aigis?"

"Of course. Minato gave his life to protect this world; I can't let that go to waste."

"I guess we have similar reasons for fighting then."

"Yes, I suppose so."

"I still miss him, but I've realized that he made his choice, so I can live with that. I would still do almost anything to have the chance to see him again though," Yukari said with a sad smile.

"So would I," Aigis said.

"I used to be so jealous that you were the one to hear his last words, but I've gotten over that. I realized that it was just stupid to think that way, and that if things had been the other way around, there's no way you would have been as big of a jerk as I was."

"I can't say what I would have done in your situation Yukari, I may have been even worse."

Yukari laughed, "No, it's okay, you don't have to try to make me feel better, I'm over it now anyways."

Koromaru ran up to the two girls and barked to show them he was ready to go back. Aigis scratched his head and they stood up.

"We've just gotta look towards the future and be ready to take whatever gets thrown at us, right Aigis?"

Aigis nodded, and they started to walk back towards the dorm. _If The Dark Hour does return, and we have to fight shadows again, _she thought, _I'll put my full effort into doing so. As long as I can protect the future you've given us, I can be happy._

* * *

Well there it is! Hope you liked it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author Note [5-14-12]: **Just to let everyone know, I now have a new account. I've had it for a little while, but I've recently become more active on it. Anyways, after the really long [and not exactly planned hiatus] I do have some ideas for this story. I'm going to try and continue it this summer, as I have been writing more anyways. When and if I do continue this story [which I have very high hopes of doing] I will be putting it on my new account. If you would like to know what my new account is feel free to send me an email at . [Sorry to be a pain and make you email me and what not, I had some problems in the past, and would like a fresh start while avoiding a few users if possible]. Thanks for sticking with me everyone! I hope to hear from you =]

* * *

_Thanks for all the reviews and favorites and wahtnot. I really apreciate them! Before you read this I just wanted to warn everybody that there are major spoilers in this chapter, just so you know._

* * *

Souji was once again staying at the Dojima residence. Since he was going to the university in Inaba, he figured it would be easier to stay with his uncle. He also wouldn't have to pay rent since Dojima declined his offer. "You're welcome here anytime Souji," Dojima had said. "You helped me and Nanako out last time you were here, that more than makes up for it."

Souji walked through the front door at around 8:30pm to find Dojima and Nanako watching the news. Dojima was seated on the couch while Nanako was sitting on the floor.

"Welcome home big bro!" Nanako cheerily greeted Souji.

"Hi Souji," Dojima said. "How was you're day?"

_Well I was attacked by shadows, and I'm worried that The Midnight Channel might come back, _he thought, but instead he simply said "fine. How was yours?"

Dojima shrugged. "Uneventful, I just got back from work about an hour ago."

"How about your day Nanako?" Souji asked.

"Great!" she said enthusiastically. "I finished the doll Kanji taught me how to make!" she said proudly holding up a somewhat misshapen rag doll.

_It looks like it has a tumor on its left arm, _Souji thought. "That looks really good, you'll have to show it to Kanji," he said, opening the fridge.

"Thanks I will!"

Souji inspected the contents of the refrigerator. There was a cup full of something that look like tea, but probably wasn't, an odd, moldering lump of something, and a banana. Souji reached for the banana when he realized Dojima's name was written on it. _I probably shouldn't eat that, last time I did…_

Souji closed the fridge again. "I think I'm going to go to bed, I'm pretty tired."

Dojima nodded, "sounds good to me. Nanako, you should probably go to bed too since you both have your first day of school tomorrow."

"Aw, okay," she sighed. "'Night big bro!" she said to Souji who was heading up the stairs.

"Goodnight Nanako," he replied.

He walked into his room and set his alarm for 11:55pm so he would wake up in enough time to watch The Midnight Channel if it did reappear. If he hadn't been so tired he would have just stayed up until midnight, but he was now having trouble keeping his eyes open after a busy day.

Two suitcases were sitting on the couch, still unpacked. Souji opened the one containing his pajamas and changed into them. He turned off the light and lied down in bed. A few minutes after pulling the covers over himself and closing his eyes, he was sound asleep.

Souji had the odd feeling that he was falling. He was disoriented and he didn't remember falling from anywhere, or know where he was falling to. Suddenly, it stopped. There was no jolt at the end as he had expected, he had simply stopped falling and was now sitting down. He was seated in a violet car seat with a velvety texture, and when he looked up he realized he was inside of a limousine along with two other familiar people. _Oh shit, _he thought.

"Welcome, once again, to The Velvet room," Igor said. "You were such an interesting guest last time, it's good to have you back," he cackled.

_Why does he always have to be so damn creepy, _Souji thought.

"It's nice to see you again," Margaret said.

"It's, um, nice to see you too. So why am I here?"

Igor cackled again. "That is a very good question," he said. He leaned forward and put his elbows on the table with his hands clasped beneath his chin.

"I think you may be in for another interesting journey soon Souji."  
_Oh this is just wonderful, _Souji thought sourly.

A small leather book had appeared on the table. The pages fluttered open to reveal

a contract with a space at the bottom for Souji to sign his name.

"I need you to sign this again Souji. It says…"

Souji cut in, "I know, I know. It's the one that say in responsible for all my

actions and choices right?"

Igor chuckled, "you catch on quickly," he said holding out a pen.

Souji took the pen from Igor's hand and signed his name on the paper. He closed

the book and set down the pen, both of which disappeared.

"So what is this journey you were talking about?" What's supposed to happen?"

"That, my dear friend," Igor said, "depends on you. Many choices will have to be

made; all leading to a different outcome. You will be responsible for making the right ones. You will meet many new people who will help you reach your goal, but many of your old friends will be by your side as well, some with new roles to play in this journey. There is one person in particular I would like to tell you about though."

"Who?" Souji asked.

"A few years before you last visit, I had another guest. His journey didn't end quite so happily as your own, but I think that you may be able to help him. If you do, I believe he will be quite useful on your journey since he had abilities similar to yours. In fact, you may not be able to complete your quest without him."

"What's his name?" Souji asked.

Igor laughed, "You'll find out soon enough."

Souji sighed, _great; he's going to be vague as usual._

"Also, I believe there may have been someone you wanted to help, someone you felt was punished unfairly during your previous journey?"

"Adachi?" Souji asked.

Igor gave no indication that he had heard him. "If you make the correct choices, you will have the opportunity to save him. He may even choose to help you in your next quest."

Souji sat there taking everything in. He was still hardly able to believe he was back in The Velvet Room about to begin a new journey, and on top of that, he had learned about all of this new information.

"Ah yes, and before I forget, all of the options you had in The Velvet Room

previously are once again available to you."

Margaret held a key out to Souji. "Take care not to lose this, it will allow you to return here whenever the need arises."

Souji took the key as his surroundings began to fade.

"I'll be seeing you again soon," Igor said and cackled.

* * *

As Souji began to return from the dream world back to the real life, he had the odd feeling that someone was staring at him. He opened his eyes to find Nanako's face a few inches away from his own. "Holy shit!" he yelled and pulled away from Nanako. When Souji looked at her again, he realized she must be sleepwalking.

"Souji, Daddy, are you two fighting again?" she asked.

"Um, no," Souji said. "Go back to bed."  
"Okay," she said in a dazed tone. "But only if you promise not to eat my pudding anymore."

"I-I promise." _How'd she know it was me? _Souji wondered as he watched Nanako slowly wander back to her own room.

Souji sat up and looked at the clock to see that it was 11:45. _Fifteen more minutes until The Midnight Channel, _he thought.

Souji changed the setting on his alarm so it would wake him up at 6:00 and walked over to the couch. He turned on the lamp in his room and waited to see if anything would appear on the TV screen.

Souji picked up the newspaper that was lying on the table and began to skim through it. He began reading one of the stories that caught his attention. It was a story about Apathy Syndrome, and whether or not it was making a comeback. He vaguely remembered hearing about Apathy Syndrome about five years ago. It hadn't really hit where he was living at the time, so he hadn't known much about it. He saw that there had been five new cases of what doctors said was possibly Apathy Syndrome. Souji finished the story and placed the paper back on the table. _It's probably the media just trying to make a big deal out of nothing, _he thought.

The clock now said it was 11:58, just two more minutes until midnight. Souji watched the clock for the remaining two minutes. Finally the clock changed to 12:00 and Souji directed his gaze towards the TV screen. He saw that it still remained blank. He waited a few more minutes to see if anything would appear, but the screen stayed blank. With a sigh, he stood up and turned of the lamp before retuning to bed.

Souji still wasn't confident that The Midnight Channel wouldn't reappear; for one thing it wasn't raining, and for another Igor had called him back to The Velvet Room, promising a new journey.

Souji pulled the covers back over himself, and fell asleep once again.

* * *

Six hours later Souji woke up to the sound of his alarm. As he reached up to turn it off, he heard the sound of laughter coming from the direction of his couch. He looked in the direction of the noise to see Igor sitting on his couch cackling. Souji began to scream when he felt someone shaking him.

"Big bro! Big bro, wake up!" he heard Nanako's voice say. "You slept through your alarm."

He opened his eyes to see Nanako standing over him, shaking his shoulder. Once Nanako saw he was awake, she let go of his shoulder. Souji pushed the covers off of himself and got out of bed.

"Were you having a nightmare or something?" Nanako asked. "You were mumbling something and you looked really scared when I came in."

Souji glanced towards the couch to see that there were now only pillows on it. "You don't even want to know," he mumbled.

Nanako shrugged, "well okay. Breakfast will be ready in about twenty minutes so come downstairs whenever you're ready."

Souji nodded and Nanako walked out of his room. He pulled the clothes he wanted to wear out of his suitcase and headed towards the bathroom to take a quick shower, giving his couch another glance as he walked out of his room.

With his hair still wet, Souji headed downstairs to eat breakfast. It smelled like bacon and eggs as he reached the bottom of the stairs. Nanako was already seated at the table eating along with Dojima who was reading the paper and drinking a cup of coffee. Souji sat down in front of his plate which was already prepared for him. "'Morning Souji," Dojima said.

"Good morning," Souji replied. He began to eat, and watched the weather report on the TV.

"Are you excited about going to college for the first time big bro?" Nanako asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Souji said. "You're going to be in third grade this year right?"  
Nanako nodded.

"Are you ready to be going back to school again?"

Nanako shrugged, "I dunno. I'm going to miss being on break."

Dojima laughed "You were so excited about going back to school last year

Nanako, what happened?"

Nanako shrugged again "It's kind of boring."

Dojima stood up from the table, "Hang on a second," he said. "I have something that should cheer you up Nanako. I've got something for you too Souji." He walked into the living room and grabbed a bag that was sitting next to the couch. "Since you've been sewing a lot lately, I got you this," he said handing Nanako a sewing kit.

Nanako's eye lit up. "Wow! Thanks!" she said and began to open the box so she could see all of the sewing utensils inside.

"And for you," he said to Souji pulling another box out of the bag, "I bought this." He handed the box to Souji who saw it was a new phone.

"Thanks," Souji said. "I really appreciate it, but you shouldn't have spent this much money on me."

"It's no big deal," Dojima said waving him off. "Besides, you told me your old phone broke the other day. I know you're going to be staying here, but you're probably not going to be home that much since you'll be busy with school. I want you to be able to call us anytime you need to."

Souji nodded, "Thanks I will." He began to open the box when the door bell rang. He quickly pulled out the phone and the car charger since he was going to leave. He walked over to the door and pulled it open to see Yosuke standing out side.

"You ready to go Souji?" he asked.

"Yeah, just hang on a second," he said letting Yosuke inside. He walked over to the couch and grabbed his backpack. While Nanako and Dojima greeted Yosuke. He headed back towards the front door with his backpack over his shoulder and his new phone in his hand. "I'll see you later," he said to Nanako and Dojima.

"Have fun at school!" Nanako said.

"Enjoy your first day!" Dojima added as they walked out the door.

"College man! College!" Yosuke shouted when they sat in his car.

Souji laughed, "I know I can't believe it!"

"More freedom, better classes, and most importantly, more hot girls!" he said as they pulled out of the drive way.

Souji rolled his eyes and plugged his phone into Yosuke's car.

"Whoa sweet, is that a new phone?" Yosuke asked.

"Yeah, but I'm gonna have to let it charge before I can use it."

"Let me see it anyways," Yosuke said taking the phone out of Souji's hand.

Souji looked out the car window to see they were headed straight for a parked car. "Watch where you're going!" he yelled and grabbed the wheel so they wouldn't run into the parked car.

"Ah shit!" Yosuke yelled and threw the phone in Souji's lap. "Whew, that was close. Thanks man." He said and laughed.

Souji shook his head, "You almost killed us and you're laughing."  
"Hey, for one thing we're not dead, for another we're going to college! Nothing's going to get me down today!" he said cheerily.

Souji couldn't help but smile. He listened to Yosuke happily talk about how great college was going to be when he remembered he was supposed to ask about The Midnight Channel. He opened his mouth to ask, but then changed his mind. If Yosuke had seen anything on the TV last night, he would have said something about it by now. Besides, he didn't want to bring Yosuke, who was now back to the topic of hot girls, down from his good mood by asking about it. Instead Souji pushed the thought out of his mind and talked to Yosuke about all the great things that would happen this year.

* * *

_Yes, I'm one of those people who doesn't blame Adachi for what happened. In my opinion it was Izanami's fault, plus his shadow kind of took him over, so yeah. Anyways thanks for reading. I hope to have the next chapter up soon. Oh, and don't forget to review!_


End file.
